WE CAN HELP

I believe I mentioned to you at the Birmingham auction that one of the only reasons I and my partners were interested in attending was the fact that most of the properties were being sold Absolute, demonstrating the commitment on the Bank to sell at current market prices.

As a deciding member of the selection committee, I wanted to congratulate your team for the recent series of auctions in Alabama and Florida on the banks 115 mixed REO properties. Your experience and candid responses enabled us to more accurately choose which assets to provide for the auction which in turn allowed the bank to create a successful initiative. Additionally, your reporting processes were extremely valuable and evidenced your 31 plus year career executing in the institutional space for major banks and government agencies as the FDIC at a high level of precision.

Congratulations to you both with the Banks recent 7 bank owned property auctions.... From the onset you provided an energetic and experienced approach with our 115 plus REO residential and commercial property portfolio. I was particularly pleased with the number of presale offers we were able to successfully contract and close prior to the auction. The remaining assets sold were within our price expectations especially with the abundant REO in the markets of the final properties selected and of which were predominantly sold Absolute at the auctions.....You and your associates make a formidable project management team at planning and producing successful initiatives with distressed non- performing assets.

Please accept our sincere appreciation for your assistance with the successful sale of the Fairfield Inn and Days Inn Hotels. I especially appreciated your weekly progress reports detailing all efforts implemented on behalf of the Bank and identifying the issues, which concerned interested parties. I continue to enjoy our business relationship of several years and look forward to our next project together.

I wanted to express my gratitude to you for the successful Sealed Bid Auction you conducted on our Commercial Business Property. Your efforts were very important to the success of our Auction resulting in a final sales price of $1,150,000 almost double the presale estimates. This was our second event with you and the results continue to speak for themselves.

Just a note to let you know how pleased we were with your performance in the Northeast FDIC / FDIC Servicer’s Land Auction. Banc One New Hampshire was more than satisfied with the results. The professionalism and deportment of your team is commendable.

I wish to congratulate and thank you for a job well done with the Texas Land Rush Auctions. I was very pleased with your professionalism, experience and results in every phase prior to and through the auctions culminating in $22,000,000 of total sales from all ten participating institutions. Additionally, I want to express our appreciation for the Mini-Auction you conducted on our West Harris Co. Ranch.

My personal thanks for your professionalism & hard work for our Levitt and Sons Townhome Auction in Fort Myers, Florida. Our on-site sales staff was very impressed with your marketing & education efforts. As you know the Fort Myers area (and much of the west coast of Florida) has had a serious glut of housing inventory, declining sales prices and limited sales in the past year. When I got to the auction & saw the ballroom filled with 350+ people, I was thrilled! Also you “choice method” & the use of 20 ‘Absolute’ units were quite effective! I think it definitely helped draw additional interest and increase our final sales prices.

Just a few lines to thank you for the excellent job on the sale of approximately 90 Seacoast Tower units. We were very impressed with the efficiency in which the units were sold at the auction. Your staff was very professional and the marketing materials you provided were sensational.

I have valued the relationship we’ve formed and will always remember the great job you did for us on the two auctions. You guys made me look good, especially in Crested Butte by selling 34 units for 110% of appraised value. That auction experience will remain memorable. It was done with a great degree of class, and we had fun doing it.

I wanted to convey our appreciation to you on the recent auction of the Hotel Escalante for $12,660,000. Your knowledge and vast experience with major real estate transactions were value added to the overall processes necessary for the sale.

I’m sure I’ve told you a dozen times by now, how pleased I am with the results produced in the auction you conducted for this office. I’m writing to convey the same, once again, and to, also, make you aware that the entire real estate staff here was, ecstatic over the job you were able to accomplish. In the process, you lifted a tremendous burden from our shoulders. You are highly recommended.

I wanted to congratulate you on the recent successful sale. The price of $2,300,010 met our expectations and GE Capital was able to divest its position in the property without taking title.

I would like to personally thank you for the time and effort you devoted with respect to auctioning the banks property. I commend you for the quality of your work but, most importantly, you were able to create a euphoric atmosphere among the bidders which lead to a final bid that significantly exceeded the Bank’s expectations.

Now that the closing has occurred I wanted to offer our congratulations and gratitude. We appreciate how you proactively worked with the former borrower and Bank on this high profile and multi complex loan which resulted in a non-contingent offer for $10,833,000 prior to the scheduled event.

Thanks for doing what you said you would do! I came to you with a difficult situation and a very limited time frame with which to market and auction our $14,000,000 retail property. Not only did you and your staff jump in with both feet to meet every deadline to ensure a successful auction but you actually found a buyer before the auction even occurred. The buyer was qualified and assumed an existing mortgage within a two week time period which allowed this property to close three weeks before the scheduled auction date. You can’t ask for better results than that! I was extremely pleased with your knowledge and professionalism. I truly believe that we would not have been successful without your persistence. I have shared our success story with many business associates and I will continue to recommend your services to property owners. I am confident that success will follow you and those that do business with you. My very best regards to both you and your staff.

I wanted to congratulate you both and convey our sincere appreciation for the highly successful Sealed Bid Sale you conducted on our behalf with the Cedar Knoll Galleria in Ashland, Kentucky. The Accelerated Marketing Approach you orchestrated from the very beginning was clearly well planned and created the maximum competition for the property. The results were most admirable, as you generated over 240 inquiries from 23 States and Canada, 22 Broker Registrations, 31 Property Information Packages sold, 6 Bidders from 4 states and final sale price of $5,090,000 representing $3,000,000 more than the established reserve/minimum. Additionally, the extensive Property Information Packages you prepared, Sealed Bid Forms, Progress Reports, training of Subcontractors, Final Sealed Bid Summary, and overall coordination were extremely professional, effective and allowed for an efficient monitoring of the entire process.

Thank you for your excellent work in the recent South Florida Auction. Your firm sold 12 of the 13 properties we offered (apartment building, single family & residential lots). I was particularly pleased with your team’s professionalism. The auction summary book we received was extremely helpful in reporting to other bank personnel regarding the overall marketing initiatives.

On behalf of Midland Loan Services L.P., congratulations on conducting a great auction. Despite a short marketing period, your effort culminated in a $10,500,000 closed sale.

On behalf of the Bank as secured creditor on the bankruptcy auction of 90 Miami Beach Condominiums…..Congratulations! Through your persistence and confidence, we ‘rolled the dice’ and hoped you would generate additional monies through an individual sale auction. When the final total was approximately in excess of $16,000,000 we had the same thought ….’Wow’!

The efficiency with which you conducted the auctions and your professional attitude and handling of the matters contributed significantly to the results and the outstanding successes that were achieved.

We could not be happier with the results of the auction of the St Louis Street properties. The sales prices we were able to attain through the professionalism and marketing expertise of your auction team exceeded the combined appraised value of the properties by over 25%. We would certainly recommend your services to others and hope to work with you again in the future.

Being our first auction experience, we were hesitant, however, the your team handled all aspects of the auction with professionalism. Their marketing expertise produced sales that exceeded our expectations.

On behalf of First Georgia Savings Bank, I want to let you know how much we appreciate your help in selling our properties in Hopewell Plantation. Of the 30 total properties which we foreclosed in Hopewell Plantation, you helped in selling 28, including the large house which was the auction site. You and your auction team were able to attract over 500 people to the auction, with over 70 registered bidders. Through your efforts we were able to sell our 28 properties at no loss to First Georgia. In fact, we recovered all principal and interest, in aggregate, and almost all other costs of foreclosure associated with those properties. Please feel free to use us as a reference. We will most certainly use your services in the future, as our needs may dictate.

On behalf of Citibank, N.A. and the other four Participating Banks, thank you for the excellent Auction you conducted recently. The sale of 184 apartment units in the inner city of Miami was a challenge to all involved. You had to contend with security problems, LIHTC issues, property management changes and communication with five different financial institutions. The price of $1,815,000 you received at Auction was acceptable to all – a feat in itself!

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation and that of John Phelps Hammond, Liquidator of Manheim Antique Galleries, for all your efforts in connection with auctioning the real estate located at 401 Royal Street. Your professional approach to handling these auctions as well as your auctioneering expertise helped us to achieve a substantial value for the owners. Because of your assistance we were able to complete this liquidation without unnecessary problems in an effective and efficient manner.

I would like to congratulate you both and offer my family’s sincere appreciation for the successful sale of our Bricktown Square property. We were very pleased with the final sale price of $10,918,000 which exceeded our original reserve. Your Dual Bid Auction System was very well planned creating the maximum competition for our property. The nationwide marketing campaign generated over 100 prospects from 13 states, 7 sealed bids and 4 auction day bidders. The combination of Strange’s local contacts and expertise, Gilmore’s marketing and auctioneering, and the public relations from Debbie Anglin and the Sperry Van Ness team resulted in a home run on auction day. The efficiency and professional of your team contributed significantly to the success of the auction.

On behalf of the Department of Management & Budget, State of Michigan, I want to take this time to personally thank you for your extraordinary efforts in the sale of the Northville property. This was the largest auction assignment ever in the State, aggravated by a complicated property, politics and history. It was clear that you had a grasp of this major undertaking as well as the high profile nature of the sale process. The sale generated $30 million in revenue, returned a surplus property to the rolls and relieved the State of annual upkeep and security costs. Mr. Fisher, you and your team Mr. Dennison, Mr. Gilmore, Mr. Johnson, Mr. McInnis, Mr. Pliska, and others, were consummate professionals. On a personal basis, we very much appreciated your humor and genuine concern for the State. We commend you for your expertise and your tenacity and for getting the job done.

I want to take this opportunity to express my pleasure with the results that you and your team obtained in the recent series of auctions. Having only experienced “ballroom” type auctions previously, I was somewhat apprehensive about the “caravan” concept. However, your results have totally dispelled my doubts. Your team was completely prepared for the event. Your advertising, telemarketing, and broker outreach campaigns resulted in outstanding attendance at each site. The auction team did a wonderful job of getting opening bids and working the audience to obtain the maximum possible price for each property. Your results exceeded our pre-auction estimates by more than 25%. Thank you for a job well done. Best wishes to you and your company in your future endeavors. I hope we have an opportunity to work together again in the near future.

On behalf of the Bank, I wanted to congratulate you on the successful sale of $4,300,000 in Amherst, MA. The final sale price actually represented 143% of our appraised value. It is apparent you have over the years mastered a very effective teaming arrangement for the benefit of your clients.

We appreciate all your effort in conducting a very successful auction. It was a complex task coordinating seven sellers, over 400 properties in six states. A great deal of expertise, patience and enthusiasm was displayed. Congratulations on a fine job and we will be pleased to have an opportunity to work with you again in the future.

I wanted to congratulate you on the successful auction conducted in Alabama for our 3.8 acre commercial site. Your direct market penetration and distribution to the brokerage community attracted qualified bidders with $50,000 each to bid on the site. Additionally, the final sale price represented close to 110% of appraised value.